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India can become the third-largest economy in the world in four or five years but increasing the per capita income and elimination of poverty is also important, noted economist and former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Dr C. Rangarajan said.

Rangarajan, the current Chairman of the Madras School of Economics, said India can grow to become the third-largest economy in the world quickly as the secular growth of developed economies will be slow.

"They have reached a stage where their growth will be slow," he added.

Rangarajan said how India eliminates poverty and increases the per capita income are also important. He said the per capita income of Indians has to grow by about five times to reach the per capita income of those in the developed economies.

On India overtaking the UK to become the fifth-largest economy in the world, he said that India and the UK cannot be compared as their sizes are vastly different.

According to him, in the next four/five years, India may become the third largest economy but the goals should be different.

Rangarajan was responding to the media questions after launching the five-year Fellow Programme in Management (FMP) of business school Great Lakes Institute of Management.

Launching the FMP, he said higher educational institutions should increase their stock of knowledge apart from disseminating knowledge and that is where research comes into picture.

Rangarajan recalled that it was he who had fathered the Fellow programme at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad several years ago. He also cautioned about the problems in such research programmes like the number of students will be low and the courses cannot be taught in a normal manner.

He also suggested that the Great Lakes Institute to introduce the research programme on all the disciplines and not just to the marketing stream.

Agreeing with the distinguished economist, Dr.Suresh Ramanathan, Dean and Principal, Great Lakes Institute, said the role of building a knowledge base also falls on the shoulders of the academia.

He said what the industry now practices globally emanated from the researchers in the educational institutions.

"Putting India on the global research map is important. We are proud to launch a programme that is truly benchmarked to global standards and will draw upon a network of highly accomplished scholars globally which will lead to highly impactful research,” Ramanathan added.